As Textron stitches together Cessna and Beechcraft under the newly created Textron Aviation, company executives still have a number of decisions left to make, from which facilities to merge to potential employee layoffs.

Textron closed on the $1.4 billion mergers on March 14, several months ahead of original plans. When an agreement was first announced on Dec. 26, the companies targeted a closing date by midyear. Leadership teams from Textron, Cessna and Beechcraft had been meeting regularly to sort out the details of the merger. But as it closed quickly, several decisions were yet to be resolved.

Cirrus Aircraft announced today it has achieved a significant milestone in its Vision SF50 personal jet program with the successful first flight of certification aircraft ‘C-Zero’ (C0). The SF50 is a seven-seat, pressurized, single-engine jet and the newest airplane in Cirrus’ composite high-performance personal aircraftline. As part of a series of evaluations to meet Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification, the newest airplane in the development program underwent rigorous ground tests before taking off from the Duluth International Airport at approximately 5 PM CDT on Monday, March 24th, 2014. Cirrus Aircraft Director of Engineering Flight Test and Chief Test Pilot Mike Stevens flew C0 on a one-hour sortie and reported, “The Vision Jet handled and performed very well, and all systems functioned properly, just what you want in a first flight. Congratulations to the entire team on today’s accomplishment.”